Epiphany
by This is My Pipebomb
Summary: Bulma has a confrontation with Vegeta in the middle of the night


Hello, there! I'm back with another one. This was once again written for LJ community: Bulma Vegeta [community. livejournal. Com / Bulma Vegeta]. The Prompt for this oneshot was "Epiphany".

"Vegeta, you lunkhead, where are you?"

For some odd reason the blue-haired female known as Bulma Briefs was missing her extraterrestrial houseguest. He had been missing for a little over a week now. She let out a frustrated sigh and grabbed her pack of cigarettes to go sit outside. As she opened the French doors to exit onto her balcony, she decided it would be a good idea to pull on some leggings under her long and baggy yellow Capsule Corp nightshirt. She walked out to the small patio table and sat down on one of the chairs, dragging the other chair closer so she could prop her feet up. She lit her cigarette and took a short drag.

"It'd be nice if he'd at least tell us _when_ he leaves and how long he'll be gone. Letting all those groceries go to waste," she huffed as she took another shorter drag. "It's a good thing Momma loves to cook."

She had already complained to her mother about the absence of Vegeta and all the groceries they had just bought for him, but as usual her mother just brushed it off with her ditzy laugh. If it wasn't for her mother the Saiyan would starve to death for all she cared when he finally returned. "Would serve him right." Instead he would be returning to fully prepared meals, made just for him. She took a longer drag, holding the smoke in before blowing it out.

Who was she kidding! She knew he was surviving perfectly fine without them right now. There was no way he had died out there--at least not out of hunger. She'd heard about his past, well as much as any of the other Z fighters knew to tell her, which wasn't much. He'd probably been practically surviving without anyone's help all those years under Frieza. She took one last drag of the cigarette before pulling the ashtray to her and stamping out the butt.

She picked up the pack of cigarettes and brought them back in before heading to the bathroom to brush her teeth and spray her body to cover the odor. She thought of taking a quick shower, but she figured it would reawaken her already tiring body. Besides, she always took one before heading down for breakfast. She took her body spray in one hand and her hair--which she had straightened out from the perm she'd been sporting just last week--in the other hand and fluffed her hair as she sprayed to make sure she would get most of the stench out. Pulling the strands to her nose, she was satisfied that her pillow wouldn't be tainted with the stale smell of cigarette smoke.

She gave herself a smile and wink before heading back out onto the balcony to relax a bit more. The night was a little breezy, hence her leggings to keep her legs from freezing, but she loved the feel of the gentle wind through her long curly locks. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath of the night air. "I wonder where he's at right now."

"Where _who _is at?" came an arrogant voice from above.

Her head whipped up so fast, she almost fell out of her chair. "What is wrong with you?!" she screamed quietly. "If I didn't know any better I'd think you were trying to give me a heart attack just to get rid of me!" She watched as his form floated off the roof and landed a short distance from her.

His arms were crossed, and his usual scowl drew his eyebrows together. "As if I'd let you die that easily," he sneered. "What are you doing up so late? Waiting for your pathetic excuse of a boyfriend?" It wasn't like he really cared, he just wanted to get her riled up. Besides, he'd known that her and the weakling had broken up quite a while back. Whoever hadn't heard them screaming at each other had to have been deaf. Plus, he'd had a fairly good training session away from the humans, leaving him in a "good mood". He had just returned a few minutes ago, and had noticed the woman sitting there in that ridiculous outfit.

On the other hand, Bulma had been distracted by his presence, and was just taking in the sight of his attire. Noticing that although his spandex-like clothes were ripped in several places and looking a little grimy, his body seemed to be otherwise clean. Making her wonder just where the hell he had been holed up. Her eyes traveled up his short form, noticing the way his fingers were drumming against his upper arm. She gulped before meeting his eyes, that were a little more intense than she last remembered.

"Are you going to answer my question, you daft woman," he grunted out. A low growl emitted from his throat as she gave him a confused look. He honestly didn't know why he put up with her at times. Perhaps it was because she was the only one to stand up to him, and occasionally tell him no. Most of those times he wanted to rip her head off or send a ki blast through her tiny body, but he had to admit that he admired those guts he may some day disembowel.

She blushed slightly, but kept his eye contact knowing how he hated weakness. "I'm sorry, Vegeta. I guess I didn't hear you."

"Tsk, and here I thought you were supposed to be a genius." His arms uncrossed as he watched her face flush even more with anger. He grinned to himself. 'Too easy' he thought.

She stood from her chair. "I am a genius, a beautiful genius!" It only fueled her on more when she heard his faint snort. "And listen here mister, if it weren't for MY GENUIS your PRECIOUS gravity room wouldn't get fixed so quickly." In her tirade she had literally gotten up in his face, and was suddenly reminded of her state of dress, or lack thereof of her bra, as he inched closer to try to intimidate her. She was glad he was still wearing his armor or else he would have surely felt her hardened nipples rub against him. That and it also gave her the nerves to not take a step back due to her discomfort.

He hadn't missed the surprised look in her eyes when he leaned into her. He gave himself a mental satisfied smirk for surprising her. "Now you listen here, bitch," he growled low in his throat. "You may 'fix' my gravity room, yet somehow it keeps breaking down…"

Not caring about standing on her tip toes and pressing herself more against him, or the fact that he might kill her for her insubordination for cutting him off, she had been hungering for this argument for quite some time. She would get her two cents in whether he killed her or not. "That 's because YOU keep BREAKING it!" she spit in his face. She covered her mouth as she saw the tiny drops of spit cover his face. Shit, she didn't mean to actually spit! She was royally fucked now, and knew her life was about to end as she watched his gloved hands run over his face.

She quickly took a few short steps back before his hand lashed out to grab a wrist. Her free arm shot up to wrap around her chest. A confused look crossed his face for half a second wondering what she was doing, but decided it didn't matter. She clearly needed to learn a few lessons on where she stood with him. He had let her have her fun, and had not been disciplining her.

"Vegeta," she breathed out. Her breathing was heavy with the onset of fear for her life. His black eyes were on fire as he regarded her, probably planning on just how to end her life. Perhaps he was now sorry that she hadn't keeled over from his earlier surprise appearance. "I'm sorry." She took a calming a breath. "Again. I didn't mean to spit on you. Honestly."

He growled, deeper and lower than his previous ones, letting her know she was close to death. He even flared his ki a little to let her feel the heat of it.

She gulped as she maintained eye contact--a lot harder than she thought it would be. "I know you've killed for a lot less," she said quietly. "So I guess it's no use begging, is there? I guess you finally have an excuse to rid yourself of me." She let loose a shaky breath, holding his eyes as she hardened hers.

He couldn't help the laughter that bubbled up in his lungs and out his throat as he threw his head back. His hand on her wrist felt her body tremble slightly at the harshness of it. "You surprise me, woman." Any trace of laughter was now gone from his voice. "After all the shit you've said to me and put me through! You should feel lucky that you're standing here now. To be on the brink of death yet again. At least this time you're smart enough to realize that much," he growled, lowering his face to hers. He watched her lick her drying lips. "Yes, you should be very afraid right now, and once again be thanking your lucky stars that I need you alive."

She let out a soft breath, but never took her eyes off his. After a while of staring at each other she figured he was waiting for a response of some sort. "Thank you, Prince Vegeta." Luckily it came out smooth and polite instead of spiteful as it had been in her head.

He smirked at her before taking a deep sniff above her head. "And you need to stop that smoking before it kills you. I'd hate to see them kill you off before I get a real chance," he told her grimly. He felt her arm struggle to pull away from his grip, and decided it was time to let her go.

She almost fell on her butt as he released her arm. She crossed that arm over her other one that still lay across her chest. She mentally scowled at him for being able to still detect the smoke on her. "I'll do whatever I want. This is my home, and my body," she told him soundly.

He snorted again and took a few steps back from her. He looked over to the horizon to see the faint glow of the coming sun. "I guess I should let you get some sleep so you're not a complete bitch in the morning."

Her face fell in shock, but quickly recovered as she saw his head turning back towards her. "Whatever," she brushed his comment off. "If it wasn't for you I'd already be in bed."

He huffed and levitated a few inches off the ground. "I expect you to be ready to fix the gravity room tomorrow." He watched as her eyes widened and her mouth dropped to say something. "Just in case my training proves to be too much for your puny bots." He gave her one last satisfied smirk before taking off again.

She gave a glare to his fading back. After his figure disappeared, she turned on herself. "I'm so stupid," she berated. For the first time in a long time she had feared that he would kill her. "And he was just playing with me. Like a fucking cat playing with a scared mouse." She made her way back into her bedroom and closed the doors, making sure they were locked behind her. 'Like it would keep HIM out anyway' she thought with a roll of her eyes. She pulled off her leggings as she made her way to the bed. "Stupid, jerk, monkey man," she cursed as she fell face first on the soft king-sized bed. "When did I let you into my heart?"


End file.
